Household financial decision-making process is an important issue as it has shown to have implications on key development outcomes such as child health and education, nutrition, expenditure, and allocation of labor. Women's ability to have control over household finances and decisions also reflects, to some extent, their level of empowerment. This study focuses on the effect of ethnicity on decision making in a household. There is relatively limited research in this area and data obtained from households in Malaysia, a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural country, provides an opportunity for an in-depth examination of the ethnic dimension. The data is obtained from a random survey of 672 Malaysian urban households of which the selection of sample was strictly determined by the Department of Statistics Malaysia to ensure randomness. The findings show that there are differences across households of different ethnicity. Chinese households are found to be more traditional and patriarchal where decisions on household financial matters are more husband-dominated. Education contributes positively in giving women more control over household finances and decision-making. The results of the study highlight the importance of ethnicity in determining the level of household bargaining and decisionmaking power which has implications on strategies in marketing as well as national policies. Thus, any substantive and policy inferences in relations to women's empowerment must take into account the socio-cultural aspects, rather than based on overall national level analyses. The finding that education plays a significant role in empowering women is a positive outcome. With more Malaysian women attaining higher levels of education and becoming part of the workforce, their level of empowerment and wellbeing will improve and consequently provide a positive impact on key development outcomes of the country.

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Bargaining model, Decision-making, Expenditure, Household, Malaysia,

Abstract. This paper presents a review of related works that have been written over the years on the objective of the firm from the Islamic perspective. For the purpose of analysis, a general framework on proper economic conduct and objective of economic order as discussed by al-Ghazali and Maududi, respectively is provided. Several studies that provide mathematical models to explain the producer behavior are further examined in a separate section. Our analysis finds that, in general, the arguments provided in justifying the objective of the firm as found in the various studies have the Islamic framework in mind. The theoretical models that have been developed can be used as a basis to formulate a more comprehensive model on Islamic producer behavior that provides more rigor and robustness to the analysis.

Purpose -This paper aims to examine the long-run and dynamic behaviors of real wage-employment-productivity relationship, using Malaysian manufacturing data, and to determine which related labor theories are supported. Design/methodology/approach -Time-series econometric techniques, which include stationarity and cointegration tests, vector error correction model, impulse response function and variance decomposition, are applied to analyze the relationships of real wages, employment and productivity. Findings -A long run relationship exists between real wages, employment and real productivity, with real wages being the main variable that adjusts to maintain cointegration. The theory that real wages inversely affect employment is not supported, while the performance-based pay scheme theory, and not the efficiency wage theory, is validated. Research limitations/implications -Although the data used to measure wages and employment account for most of the production in the various manufacturing sectors, they do not include all the manufacturing industries. The analysis is also limited in time span since data for earlier periods are not available. Practical implications -The findings can provide assistance to policy makers in their implementation and evaluation of labor policies. Originality/value -The real wage-employment-productivity relationship is examined in the framework of the Malaysian manufacturing sector, and the study includes both the long-term and short-run behaviors of the variables.